The Innkeeper



One of the most frequent questions Lex faced when he was young was what his name meant, or was short for. Depending on his age or mood, Lex would give different answers, ranging from it meant absolutely nothing, to that it was an acronym for 'laudably exquisite xebec', to the name of a famous hero or villain. Many people often assumed it was short for Alexander, though that was not the case.

The truth of the matter was too embarrassing to be spread. When he was born, his parents were having a discussion about what to name him, only to find out that their firstborn, Belle, had somehow managed to fill out the paperwork and had his birth certificate issued with the name Lex.

As absurd as it sounded considering Belle's young age at the time, she had been a little different from birth. She could not be compared to others her age. When they asked her why she chose the name Lex, she claimed that he had been named after her favorite wrestling move: the suplex!

His parents had found the story endearing. He had found the story mentally scarring. His sister had taken the story as motivation to master the suplex, on him no less!

"You know it occurs to me that we actually have a lot in common," said Lex as he turned around and looked at his side of the corridor.

"We're both from earth. We both had the same teacher. We both have similar sounding names. We both are pretty strong, and we both have weird families."

The last part Lex almost whispered. Had it been anyone else, they would not have heard his words against the backdrop of the approaching robots, but Lex had Alexander's undivided attention so he heard the words.

"You know I saw your fights back during the Midnight Games. You were quite impressive back then," said Lex.

"Some say I'm the best on earth around my age," replied Alexander with a sly grin.

Lex almost chuckled at the provoking remark, but he had no time to retort. The feline robots had arrived!

They were not too large, more like a slightly larger house cat. But while their size remained inferior to the more aggressive feline species, the robots were far from weak!

Their small, agile bodies were perfect for maneuvering in the cramped corridor while at the same time making it hard to hit their bodies. To top it off their speed was incredible, their fangs and claws were incredibly sharp and, as robots, they had weapons coming out of unexpected places!

While Lex may have been acting quite casual in his conversation with Alexander, the truth was that he was immediately put to the limit of his abilities as soon as he was attacked! There were too many attacking too fiercely and too fast! As much as Lex wanted to continue the challenge of leaving his clothes untouched, he failed after only a few seconds! While they had not yet penetrated his skin, the robots were definitely strong enough to cut through all of Lex's outdated defensive techniques.

He was forced to resort to blocking attacks with his limbs, immediately entering the flow state and making the best of his limited mobility.

The difficulty of the pagoda was no joke!

He spread his spirit sense along the hall, both to keep an eye on how Alexander was faring and so that he could use it to interfere with any long range attacks. To his surprise, despite the fact that Alexander lacked his immense physical strength and speed, he was faring much better!

Unlike Lex, who was relying on his instincts to defend against the onslaught, Alexander was using his training and prior experiences to deal with the enemies with remarkable efficiency!

Although many thought he had lived a pampered life, that was far from the truth. He was too used to facing enemies with much greater numbers and far greater strength than himself. In this situation, where he was practically alone against a seemingly endless number of overpowered enemies, he was not pushed to his limits. If anything, he was right at home!

All six of the swords were moving in conjunction with his every step, either fending off attacks or cleverly striking at enemies themselves. It was like each sword was controlled by a separate person, meticulously taking advantage of the situation with perfect teamwork and coordination.

Considering that Lex had recently unlocked amazingly overpowered multitasking abilities, using multiple weapons in such perfect conjunction should have been what he was pursuing. Instead, he had been forced to rely on his own physique, unable to deliver even half as good a result as his peer, even with greater capabilities.

For a moment, Lex was humbled. Although he had grown strong quickly, and it seemed like he had mastered his strength, he was far from achieving the best he could do - even in his flow state!

But then the moment passed, and Lex was filled with competitive spirit! From flow, he entered the overdrive state as he turned his attention back to the robots on his side.

He moved his left arm behind his back as an array began forming around it, while he only used his right arm to attack.

Although he had recently had a realization on how he could improve his performance, he had not yet had time to master it, so he went back to his old way of doing things. He relied heavily on his body's endless tolerance for suffering attacks and stopped blocking. He used each opportunity presented to him when an enemy attacked to counter attack, channeling his herculean strength through his fist.

His clothes were torn and his skin covered in white scratches, but in exchange he was smashing robots with every move. As if that was not enough, each robot he punched or kicked would launch into the horde behind it, crashing into its comrades with devastating might.

If not for the fact that Lex had resisted the urge to growl and roar, he would have displayed the perfect image of a savage barbarian hunting wild beasts!

For a few dozen seconds, it seemed like things were under control. They had reached a climax, but the two of them had managed to hold back their respective wave of robots. Now they would silently compete over who defeated their side of the attack first.

But despite how simple and easy as the pagoda had seemed at first, it was no mere childsplay. Things changed suddenly when the seemingly random actions of each robot suddenly changed into an incredibly coordinated and strategic attack.

It seemed as if they were not facing off against multiple, individual robots but an army of robots, all with a connected mind. It was like… they were facing off against a hive mind!

Instead of focusing solely on the two of them, some of the robots actually circumvented them, and appeared behind them.

Suddenly, the two went from having each other's backs to both being completely surrounded, and under attack from every direction.

While Lex was largely okay, the number of attacks he began to suffer increased tremendously. While he was still not hurt, the threat that the robots might break skin soon was immense.

Alexander too came under great pressure, but not only did he have a vast array of techniques at his disposal, his exosuit was no joke. He seemed to be surviving.

Still, it became clear to both of them that they would need to work together if they wanted to survive the entire round!

With an unspoken understanding, both of them acted at the same time. Alexander's suit suddenly rippled with a blue light, though more important was the fact that he suddenly became more powerful. The air seemed to ripple around him, before an explosion threw back every robot near him.

Lex, on the other hand, did something much simpler. Since he already knew that the robots were immune to elemental attacks, he had used a different one. Inspired by a video of a devastatingly powerful volcanic eruption, the array he used was one of the few he had already planned out before. It was called shockwave.

Simply said, it sent a shockwave in a specific direction. Practically, the shockwave was so strong and abrupt, it could easily kill. Moreover, it was the perfect area of effect attack!

The momentarily lull in the robots attacks caused by Alexander's explosion and Lex's shockwave allowed the two to close the gap between themselves and truly have each other's backs.

"So Mr. Best-at-his-age, think you can keep up? If you need any help just let me know, alright. It's not a shame to ask your elder for help."

"Tch. You need a bandaid for that scratch on your face?" Alexander asked, instead of replying.

Lex snickered. Indeed, his entire body was scratched up. But not a single attack had managed to pierce his skin so far. Instead of feeling like he was being attacked, it felt more like he was receiving a special massage designed to scratch an itch.

The Regal Embrace, even in its mutated form, was not a joke. Although Alexander seemed to be making fun of the fact that Lex suffered multiple attacks, internally he was flabbergasted at his resilience. He had seen actual armors weaker than Lex's skin!